On January 15, 2003, the first public hearing under the new "service sector" operation was conducted at the Van Nuys State Office Building. Twelve proposals, involving 13 existing lines, a new Metro Rapid line, and a new limited-stop line, were made available to the public for comment. We have created separate pages for each proposal (with a single page for the multiple proposals involving Lines 92-93-410 and 603):

The recommended service change proposals required a daily average of about 3,000 weekday, 500 Saturday and 260 Sunday patrons to transfer or access other services. The impact on these patrons were offset by service improvements including new Rapid Line 761, new Saturday service on Lines 90-91 and Line 243, and the extension of Line 236 to the Sylmar/San Fernando Metrolink Station.

Changes were also made on June 29 to some San Gabriel Valley Metro Bus lines which also serve the San Fernando Valleyto make connections at Metro Gold Line stations.In addition, Metro SGV made proposals in 2004 for Line 85 and Line 181
which were not implemented; the Line 85 proposal was implemented in modified form December 17, 2006.

Approximately 70 individuals attended the public hearing; 56 respondents provided verbal and/or written testimony by the close of the public record (32 gave oral testimony and 24 provided written comments via letter and e-mail). Comments were also received from Southern California Transit Advocates, the Transit Coalition, the Bus Riders Union and other organizations. Summaries of the public comments are included on the separate proposal pages.

In addition, miscellaneous public comments pertaining to new services, route modifications and service improvements were received at the hearing. These comments are not directly related to the proposals under consideration but staff included them for the record:

1. Suggest new shuttle service between Burbank Airport and North Hollywood Station serving Laurel Canyon Blvd., Universal City Station, North Hollywood Station, and Vineland Ave. to Burbank Airport.
2. Suggest new limited service from Sylmar via Glenoaks Blvd. to downtown Burbank and via the route of Line 152 to Universal.
3. Provide DASH service in Northeast San Fernando Valley.
4. Increase service to Empire Center, the Plant and Porter Ranch.
5. Reroute Line 239 from Louise Ave. and Rinaldi St. to Chatsworth St. and Balboa Blvd.
6. Replace East-West busway with Rapid bus on Lankershim and Victory Blvds.
7. Improve Line 169 service to operate every 30 minutes by eliminating first and last trips. Improve weekend service.
8. Improve service on Line 161. Add weekday service later in the evening.
9. Increase bus service on all lines.
10. Improve service to Van Nuys Flyaway.
11. Link Line 230 with Line 234 at Mission College.
12. Link 168 to Line 156. Extend service south along Canoga Ave. to Warner Center.
13. Add night service on Line 239 and 165.
14. Reroute Line 152 from North Hollywood Station.
15. Suggest a grid system from Sylmar to Chatsworth.
16. Pursue future pedestrian bridge at Foothill Blvd. and Filbert St. to Juvenile Hall.

The Bus Riders Union filed complaints regarding MTA's entire service change program for June 2003 suggesting the changes would pose hardships on the transit dependent population countywide and contradict the mandates of the Consent Decree. Staff responded that the Consent Decree did not prohibit the MTA from managing the bus system to ensure efficient and effective operations and that resources removed from unproductive route segments, low performing lines, and duplicated routes can be reinvested into other lines to improve service for the greater public good.

An interesting statistic regarding the June, 2003 service changes: 100 of the MTA's lines were modified in some way, including not only the above Metro San Fernando Valley lines and those lines modified for connections to the Metro Gold Line (which involved 25 lines), but also a new Metro Rapid line on Florence Ave.; 17 lines modified, created, or cancelled in the Gateway Cities Sector; six lines in Westside/Central; and nine lines in South Bay. This constituted the largest semi-annual service change since MTA was created in 1993.

According to Pete Serdienis of MTA Stops & Zones, just over 7,000 of the Authority's 18,000 bus stops were affected by the June 29 changes and the July 26 Gold Line start up. Those changes required 79 new route, destination, & service qualification decal readings ... totalling 14,765 new decals. (That figure does not include new Rapid signs.)